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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

That is like walking from London to Calais France. (Europe makes 100 miles seem a lot further than Canada)

And I feel great about it. The point of this challenge was to motivate me and make me keep going just a little bit more. The result was that I have maintained the 33 pounds that I have lost so far, and I am in way better shape to try to drop a few more!

I have a new challenge for May. 30 active hours. What I mean by "active hours" is hours in which you are doing intentional physical activity, like hiking. not hours where you are moving but not really, like shopping at the mall. The intention of this is to work less hard, but for longer. Instead of pushing myself to finish my miles, I will back off the speed and keep going. I chose 30, because that works out to an hour every day, but I have no intention of doing an actual hour every day.

Some days I will do a 30 minute walk and that will be it. Some days We will go on 2 hour hikes. As long as I get my but off the couch and move, I think I can make this 30 hour goal. I just need some fun way to measure it.

Friday, April 27, 2012

4 days left and 15.48 miles to go. That is an average of 3.87 miles per day. Totally do-able!

I didn't really stick to my calendar at all, but I have stuck to my goal, and knowing that I went 100 miles in April, just feels amazing. I feel like I want a challenge to keep me going for May. I am thinking something more hours based, maybe 50 hours? If I count things like hikes, and my lunchtime walks that might be a push, but it could be do-able! Maybe 40 is more possible? I want a goal that takes daily diligence, but that you can make up if you need a day off once in a while. That way it is achievable, but it will get my bum off the couch!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Last night my workout went so well, I am so glad I did this challenge! My endurance is so much better, and I can tell I am in overall better shape.

And for the first time in my life, I actually want to go to the gym.

I have always hated the gym before. Even in college, when I was using the amazing athletic facilities at the University of Oregon which are sponsored by Nike and are amazing. I always felt like I didn't really belong. Like the girls in fancy matching workout gear, who looked so determined, were the people who belonged there, not me who is so uncoordinated I had to get off the machine just to take a drink of water without pouring it on myself.

But after 6 months of being the type of person who goes to the gym, it has finally started to feel comfortable. And I can drink water while working out on the elliptical, without falling or spilling.

I just hope I can continue to channel this motivation into weight loss.

Monday, April 23, 2012

On Friday and Saturday I was a total slacker. This last week had just zapped my energy and all i wanted to do was to be cat furniture at home. (anyone who is still at my house runs the risk of being cat furniture)

But On Sunday I thought of my challenge, and I felt guilty. (Which is good, since that is the whole point of the challenge)

So we went to the gym, and I was just having a good workout day. We wound up working out for a full hour, and I logged in 7 miles. It felt great, and it made up for Saturday and Friday, but it still had me doing a 0 for Sunday.

So after lunch we decided to co on a walk around Calgary to get in our daily miles.

I snapped a few pictures on our walk, and you can see what a perfect day it was! Add to that the 70 degree weather, and you can see how it would be hard to stay inside.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Thanks to my workout last night, I am right on target for my miles challenge. Luckily for me the weekend is scheduled to be sunny!

Since the 15th, when I realized I had more miles left than month, I have been pushing to get caught up. And now that I am, I feel great. It is like when you are all caught up on your homework, and it is Friday, and you have the whole weekend to go play.

That extra push of motivation to get off the couch is why I am doing this challenge, and part of that is the accountability of putting it all out there on the internet!

So let's see how far I have gone, shall we? (all map origins are my gym)

I have gone all the way from my gym, to Canmore!

Seeing this on a map, makes me feel so great about how far I have gone, and how a little bit every day can really add up!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I think I am finally getting the hang of working out. For the first time in my life, I feel good when I work out, not just bored at the time then glad I did after.

My weight loss has been stalled, but after dropping my initial 30 pounds, I have kept it off for over a month. I am going to call that a win, and push my self to get off this plateau.

I have also seen a huge increase in my fitness since we started this plan. In November we would go to the gym and do a 20 or 30 minute workout. I would get on the elliptical, set it to "please be nice" aka the easiest setting and just try to survive 10 or 15 minutes, then switch to the recumbent bike for 10 or 15 minutes.

Now I pop back and forth every 20 minutes when the gym is busy, limited only by the "20 minute limit when someone is waiting" rule. And I often get back in line to go back on the elliptical, setting it on 6 or 7.

I was getting pretty pleased that we had increased our workouts to 40-45 minutes, more than double what we were doing some days!

Then this last week I have had what feels like a "fitness breakthrough"; instead of being bored and tired and forcing myself to keep working, I have actually started to enjoy the workout itself. This doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of days where I would prefer to nap on the couch, and I know I have a long road ahead to fitness, but this big step forward is making me feel finally good at the gym.